Technical Field
Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein relate to a lottery ticket electronic retail system that leverages an existing master terminal of a retailer which allows purchases of lottery tickets to be credited to each retailer.
Discussion of Art
A lottery authority provides a gaming service in which a player can purchase a printed ticket and gambles on winning a prize or sum of money. Often, the lottery authority will authorize merchants at various physical locations to sell printed tickets (e.g., lottery tickets). Lottery authorities offer various types of games such as instant games and draw games, and interactive electronic games. Instant games are typically a physical “scratch-off” ticket to which the player must scratch all or a portion of the physical ticket to reveal whether the player wins. After the physical ticket reveals whether the player wins, the result is “instantly” determined. Draw games typically have a set date/time at a frequency in which numbers are drawn by random. A player in a draw game either manually selects or has a computer randomly select numbers for his/her purchased lottery ticket. The player then compares the selected numbers on his/her purchased lottery ticket to the numbers drawn on the particular date/time. Interactive electronic games are games of chance in which a user can enter and interact or play the game through an electronic device (e.g., mobile device, computer, laptop, desktop, tablet, video game console, portable gaming device, a device with a user input and a display, among others).
Merchants often manage the sale and distribution of the lottery tickets from a physical location (e.g., store, market, etc.). The merchant is compensated with a percentage of the sales from the physical location. In other words, each merchant's compensation is dependent on where the ticket is physically purchased, whereas the lottery authority is compensated regardless of where the lottery ticket is sold. Such distribution systems often include physical terminals at a physical location. For example, a master terminal is in communication with a lottery authority from which a hard copy of a lottery ticket can be sold, printed, and distributed. Following such example, often an employee operates the master terminal to sell, print, and distribute the hard copy lottery tickets to players. In another example, a slave terminal can be coupled to a master terminal in which hard copy sales of lottery tickets are made from each. Following such example, often a player operates the slave terminal to provide payment and receive a hard copy of a lottery ticket.
It may be desirable to improve the existing lottery system.